InboxProof – first-email red-flag scanner for clients
Flag risky clients the moment their first email lands in your inbox
- Problem
- Freelancers and small studios regularly get burned by scope creep, late payment, and ghosting. Many warning signs appear in the very first client email: phrasing, who is cc'd, whether they answer your questions, how fast "one quick extra thing" shows up. Nobody has time to check all of that when a lead comes in.
- Solution
- An email sidebar tool that connects to Gmail/Outlook and scores new-client first emails against a red-flag checklist, surfacing warnings like unanswered budget questions, unclear decision chains, or bargain-hunting signals. It also offers contract and payment-term templates.
- Users
- Freelance developers, designers, small agencies, independent consultants
- MVP
- Email plugin shows a red-flag score on first client emails; customizable rule set; one-click polite follow-up templates; linked simple contract and milestone payment templates; per-contact red-flag history
- Revenue
- Free basic scanning; subscription for custom rules, team sharing, and a contract template library
- Why now
- AI lowers the barrier to freelancing, increasing the number of solo operators, yet client vetting still relies on word-of-mouth experience